Lessons Learned the Hard Way: on Tax Reform


Opposing taxes is a key conservative value

One of the key values of most conservatives is opposition to tax increases. This is not only right in itself, but helpful as well, because it protects us from all sorts of temptations that the liberals love to place before us. Conservatives are elected by taxpayers who believe they already pay too many taxes, who want smaller and more efficient government, and who wish to be able to keep more of the money and property they have earned by the sweat of their brows. They feel betrayed when their own leaders are maneuvered into supporting bigger and ever more intrusive government by agreeing to raise taxes. If they wanted that, they would have voted for the liberals in the first place.
Source: Lessons Learned the Hard Way, by Newt Gingrich, p. 25-26 Jul 2, 1998

Input of public judgement for any major tax reform

The principle of keeping the people on it all the way is my contribution to the great tax reform debate. Some intelligent and persuasive people want a flat income tax. Some other intelligent and persuasive people want to see a sales tax replace any income tax. So my goal in the great tax reform debate is to make sure that it is carried way beyond the experts and advocates and gets a thorough airing in the minds of the voters. I want them to tell me what they think about this question. There is a distinction between public judgment and public opinion. The latter is what people tell pollsters off the top of their heads. Public judgment, by contrast, is what develops over time when people pay attention to something and discuss it with their friends and neighbors. It takes a long time to develop and involves a complex social interaction that is largely unplanned and unprogrammable.
Source: Lessons Learned the Hard Way, by Newt Gingrich, p. 27 Jul 2, 1998

EITC is an invitation to fraud

Consider the Earned Income Credit program, one of the biggest scandals in the IRS. This program provides cash to people below a certain income level. The Clinton Administration’s own estimates of waste, fraud, and error indicate that the program has a 21% rate of error. That means that $1 out of every $5 distributed is wrong. There are big problems in a 21% error rate in a government program that gives away money. First it teaches people to commit fraud. A society in which the dishonest gain more benefit than the honest is one whose very fabric is being frayed. Second, it points up a grotesque double standard in the inner workings of the IRS: when you send them your money, they punish you for anything less than 100% accuracy, but when they send your money to someone else, they accept their own massive error rate. The IRS sends out an estimated $5 billion annually in wrong payments under the Earned Income Tax program. That is enough money to abolish the entire death tax.
Source: Lessons Learned the Hard Way, by Newt Gingrich, p.199 Jul 2, 1998

  • The above quotations are from Lessons Learned the Hard Way: A Personal Report, by Newt Gingrich.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Tax Reform.
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  • Click here for more quotes by Newt Gingrich on Tax Reform.
2016 Presidential contenders on Tax Reform:
  Republicans:
Gov.Jeb Bush(FL)
Dr.Ben Carson(MD)
Gov.Chris Christie(NJ)
Sen.Ted Cruz(TX)
Carly Fiorina(CA)
Gov.Jim Gilmore(VA)
Sen.Lindsey Graham(SC)
Gov.Mike Huckabee(AR)
Gov.Bobby Jindal(LA)
Gov.John Kasich(OH)
Gov.Sarah Palin(AK)
Gov.George Pataki(NY)
Sen.Rand Paul(KY)
Gov.Rick Perry(TX)
Sen.Rob Portman(OH)
Sen.Marco Rubio(FL)
Sen.Rick Santorum(PA)
Donald Trump(NY)
Gov.Scott Walker(WI) 		Democrats:
Gov.Lincoln Chafee(RI)
Secy.Hillary Clinton(NY)
V.P.Joe Biden(DE)
Gov.Martin O`Malley(MD)
Sen.Bernie Sanders(VT)
Sen.Elizabeth Warren(MA)
Sen.Jim Webb(VA)

2016 Third Party Candidates:
Gov.Gary Johnson(L-NM)
Roseanne Barr(PF-HI)
Robert Steele(L-NY)
Dr.Jill Stein(G,MA)
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Page last updated: Feb 25, 2019